Lufthansa Technik (LHT) is to double the VIP widebody completion facilities at its Hamburg plant, temporarily replacing some narrowbody conversion capacity. Joachim von Holtzapfel, sales director of LHT's newly-created completions business unit, says global demand for widebody conversions reached four last year, and he predicted this could double by 2005. LHT expects to complete two a year from 2003, compared to one a year now.
A simultaneous decline in LHT's narrowbody order book has allowed two of its four completion lines to be dedicated to governmental twin-aisle conversions. "We are reshaping our hangar to accommodate two narrowbody lines and two widebodies, but there is sufficient space to bring back a third narrowbody line if the market recovers," says von Holtzapfel.
He expects growth in the widebody conversion market to continue for the next five to six years, mainly because of ageing Boeing 747s in the Gulf region coming up for replacement.
LHT has completed its seventh 747 conversion, and is expecting to complete the first VIP Airbus A380 by the end of the decade. The company says it is eager to have a "footprint" in the USA, and is "exploring several options".
Source: Flight International
